Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Tuesday Night Music: Nick Drake

Because I knew nothing about him until my son said, look him up.

From Wikipedia

Nicholas Rodney "Nick" Drake (19 June 1948 – 25 November 1974)
was an English singer-songwriter and musician, known for his gentle
guitar-based songs. He failed to find a wide audience during his
lifetime but his work has gradually achieved wider notice and
recognition.[2][3][4] Drake signed to Island Records when he was 20 years old and a student at the University of Cambridge, and released his debut album, Five Leaves Left, in 1969. By 1972, he had recorded two more albums—Bryter Layter and Pink Moon. Neither sold more than 5,000 copies on initial release.[5] Drake's reluctance to perform live, or be interviewed, contributed to his lack of commercial success.
Drake suffered from depression,
particularly during the latter part of his life. This was often
reflected in his lyrics. On completion of his third album, 1972's Pink Moon,
he withdrew from both live performance and recording, retreating to his
parents' home in rural Warwickshire. There is no known footage of the
adult Drake; he was only ever captured in still photographs and in home
footage from his childhood.[6] On 25 November 1974, Drake died from an overdose of amitriptyline, a prescribed antidepressant; he was 26 years old. Whether his death was an accident or suicide has never been resolved.
Drake's music remained available through the mid-1970s, but the 1979 release of the retrospective album Fruit Tree caused his back catalogue to be reassessed. By the mid-1980s Drake was being credited as an influence by such artists as Robert Smith, David Sylvian and Peter Buck. In 1985, The Dream Academy reached the UK and US charts with "Life in a Northern Town", a song written for and dedicated to Drake.[7]
By the early 1990s, he had come to represent a certain type of "doomed
romantic" musician in the UK music press and was frequently cited as an
influence by artists including Kate Bush, Paul Weller and The Black Crowes.[8] His first biography appeared in 1997, and was followed in 1998 by the documentary film A Stranger Among Us.

6 comments:

Doomed romantic is right. I hear it all in those stripped down plaintive tunes he wrote. I am one of the many who discovered his music long after he was dead thanks to the Island Records anthology Way to Blue: An Introduction to Nick Drake. I especially like "One of These Things First" and "Poor Boy". I alwasy get mixed feelings of guilt and anger when some of the most talented musicians only become popular after they die -- Jeff Buckley, Eva Cassidy also come to mind.

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Patricia Abbott is the author of more than 125 stories that have appeared online, in print journals and in various anthologies. She is the author of two ebooks, MONKEY JUSTICE and HOME INVASION and co-editor of DISCOUNT NOIR. She won a Derringer award for her story "My Hero." She lives outside Detroit.

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An atmospheric and eagerly awaited debut novel from acclaimed crime writer Patricia Abbott, set in Philadelphia in the 1970s about a family torn apart by a mother straight out of Mommie Dearest, and her children who are at first victims but soon learn they must fight back to survive. Eve Moran has always wanted “things” and has proven both inventive and tenacious in getting and keeping them. Eve lies, steals, cheats, swindles, and finally commits murder, paying little heed to the cost of her actions on those who love her. Her daughter, Christine, compelled by love, dependency, and circumstance, is caught up in her mother’s deceptions, unwilling to accept the viciousness that runs in her mother's blood. Eve’s powers of seduction are hard to resist for those who come in contact with her toxic allure. It’s only when Christine’s three-year old brother, Ryan, begins to prove useful to her mother, and she sees a pattern repeating itself, that Christine finds the courage and means to bring an end to Eve’s tyranny.